Folding boxes for use in retail sales, including hanging packaging created from a single sheet of folded cardboard, is known in the art. Typically such boxes comprises a cardboard sheet stamped out of a cardboard blank, which is then folded into a three-dimensional box-like shape, which may or may not have a folding lid for opening and closing. These boxes often have openings incorporated into the cardboard sheet for display or hanging purposes.
Examples of folding single sheet cardboard retail packaging are Sorrentino (U.S. Pat. App. 2012/0080511), Tanaka (U.S. Pat. No. 8,066,177) and Chen (U.S. Pat. No. 6,840,437). Sorrentino teaches a package folded from a single cardboard sheet, having a window disposed across two sides of the folded package. Tanaka teaches a package folded from a single cardboard sheet without a window, but having anchoring tabs adapted to connect the lid to the side of the box. Chen teaches a windowless package formed from a single cardboard sheet, with dividers incorporated into the completed package.
These types of packages have various drawbacks. For example, they may expose different sides of the cardboard sheet upon folding, and require printing both sides of the cardboard, thereby raising production costs. They are frequently not recyclable. And when folded, they do not provide a handle by which they may be easily carried.
Although the cardboard component of folding packages may be recyclable, packages having plastic windows are generally not since that portion is not recyclable. While biodegradable bioplastics are available, these plastics generally have a low melting temperature, and a tendency for the melting temperature to decrease further if heated repeatedly. Therefore, although a bioplastic may have an initial melting temperature of 150° or 160° Fahrenheit, if heated for vacuum forming, the resulting molded bioplastic may have a melting temperature of 130° F. or even 120° F. Since warehouse or transportation conditions may exceed 120° F., vacuum formed bioplastics are disfavored for packaging.
There is thus a need for a box used in retail packaging, formed of a single sheet of folded cardboard, that when folded, exposes only one side of the cardboard sheet thereby requiring only one sided printing, and which has a window with a high melting temperature, but which is biodegradable. And a built-in handle for carrying the box is advantageous.